Shaping the future of land management in Scotland
We are delighted to announce that Highlands Rewilding have signed a first-of-kind land management Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tayvallich Initiative, a community body set up to consider options for community land purchase, to benefit both the local community and nature.
A short introduction to the Memorandum of Understanding from Dr Calum Brown, Co-Chief Scientist at Highlands Rewilding
The MoU is the first of its kind in the rewilding community and forms a broad framework to start a conversation about how nature and the local community can benefit each other. Through a collaboration between Highlands Rewilding and the local community, this memorandum aims to deliver a unique triple-win partnership for community prosperity, nature restoration and the delivery of ethical profit to shareholders.
The Scottish Government says around 1 in every 20 homes[i] in Argyll and Bute is a second home or holiday let, and with house prices rising[ii] more in the Highlands and Islands than the whole of Scotland over the last 20 years, rural depopulation has become a significant problem for many in the Highlands and West Coast of Scotland. Against this depopulation crisis[iii], and that of both Scotland’s highly concentrated pattern of land ownership and spiralling biodiversity loss, this acknowledgement of common interests between Highlands Rewilding and the local Tayvallich community represents a pioneering new approach to land management in Scotland.
Local Voices: Comment from two young local residents.
Jeremy Leggett, “The model Highlands Rewilding is pursuing is one that can attract investment into nature recovery at the scale desperately needed to halt biodiversity collapse, with the community invited to be part of this; second only to that within Community Land Trusts”.
The memorandum includes key agreements such as a no-eviction policy and increased security for tenants on the estate, an undertaking to maintain at least the number of current jobs on the estate, and the application of the Rural Housing Burden on any plots or properties that are sold, with a title condition to use the property as the owner’s primary residence, giving the community the right of pre-emption of future sales. The blueprint for the estate's management will be created hand in hand with a local management board, which enables community engagement and participation.
The memorandum also includes plans to sell parts of the estate to the community at cost. This is underway following Tayvallich Initiative’s successful bid to the Scottish Land Fund, set up to enable communities to buy land. It is hoped that there will also be many opportunities for joint venture micro-enterprises, including for clean energy production, with the community.
Community Land Scotland has commented and said that agreement is interesting and “hopefully represents a new approach for major landowners in their relationship with local communities.
“While it falls far short of the benefits of full community ownership, it does start to explore ways in which local people can have more agency and control over what happens locally and benefit from new land uses.
“We hope it’s a model that other landowners and communities can learn from.”
Martin Mellor, Chair of Tayvallich Initiative, said: “We're pleased that Highlands Rewilding and Tayvallich Initiative have signed a wide-ranging Memorandum of Understanding, which was presented at April Community Meeting in Tayvallich Hall. The MoU was warmly welcomed at the meeting. It creates an embryonic framework to enable HRL to continue a conversation with the wider community, including establishing a local board that has invited nominations from the wider community. We look forward to developing an ongoing relationship with Highlands Rewilding as it begins work in this area which has great potential, for both nature restoration and regeneration, and for community prosperity and repopulation."
We completed purchase of Tayvallich Estate on 16 May 2023 using funding from its successful crowdfunding campaign, joined by private investment and a loan from the UK Infrastructure Bank: the first loan of its kind dedicated to nature recovery in the UK.
A key priority for us will be to restore the fragments of Temperate Atlantic Rainforest found at Tayvallich Estate, with their incredibly high levels of biodiversity.
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[i] https://spice-spotlight.scot/2022/09/07/second-homes-in-scotland-facts-figures-and-policy/
[ii] https://www.ros.gov.uk/data-and-statistics/house-price-statistics
[iii] https://www.thenational.scot/news/20039947.new-figures-reveal-rural-scotlands-depopulation-crisis/